Crying Wolf
by scifiromance
Summary: After discussing Seven's conflict with Kovin with the crewmembers deemed fit to judge the situation, Chakotay has to face the victim herself after it's all over... Two-shot for S04xE17 'Retrospect'.
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: Here is another short story, this time a two-shot, set after 'True Love', 'Mortal Sentiment' and 'Independence', during and after 'Retrospect' S04xE17. This episode disturbs me on a lot of levels, which I guess means it needs analysis through writing. I will go back to my multi-chapter fics soon, I promise. **

"There's no doubt…" The Doctor declared with sombre conviction as he turned away from the recording of the memory regression treatment he'd performed on Seven of Nine in her Cargo Bay that had just finished playing out on the Briefing Room's wall console. "Seven was the victim of a brutal assault."

"How is she?" The Captain asked anxiously, her voice wavering despite herself. Chakotay, sitting at the other end of the table from her, could see an even more potent combination of emotions that the recording had provoked in him, chilling horror, pity, and disbelief. It certainly hadn't been a comfortable watch. He'd felt like a voyeur, and if he hadn't began to suspect that the Doctor's judgement and objectivity had already been compromised, he would've felt angry at the hologram for exposing Seven so completely.

"As well as can be expected." The Doctor replied to his Captain's question in a clipped tone. "She's regenerating in her alcove." He spun away from his small audience as his voice hardened into definitive conclusion, "I predict that her emotional recovery will take some time." He took an, of course unnecessary, deep breath as he turned again to confront the Captain. "I certainly hope you intend to hold Kovin responsible for what he's done." There was little ambiguity in his words, and even less in his expression, his dark eyes were full of outrage and indignation on Seven's behalf.

Yet the Captain didn't let herself be swept away to join the Doctor on his crusade, she was pale and tight lipped, but still in control. She traded the Doctor's heated, passive aggressive stance with her own of cool, resigned caution. "First I want to know how much of her story we can corroborate." She replied, sending the Doctor a silent plea for restraint, for the time being at least, with her eyes before twisting sharply in her chair to face Tom, "Tom, you were with her on the planet, how long was she alone with Kovin?"

"At least two hours." Tom reported shortly, managing to keep the guilt out of his tone, but it was still evident in the troubled grimace on his face.

"Did she say what happened?" The Captain asked quietly.

She asked it with enough formality to avoid offending Tom, he realised it had to be asked, though of course they all knew that if Seven had confided in Tom about so serious an assault they'd be hearing about it in the Transporter Room a minute later, not days after the event in the Briefing Room. However, Tom couldn't help but catch the Doctor's accusatory glares he shot him; in the hologram's eyes he'd inexcusably failed to protect his crewmate, abandoned her to her fate. "Only that they'd finished their work on the rifle." Tom answered firmly, a disturbed frown crossing his features as he said with all the certainty he'd felt back then, "She seemed fine."

The Doctor's eyebrows arched as he moved swiftly forward, his mind grasping the statement as evidence and holding tight. "Clearly Mr Kovin used artificial means to suppress her memory of the event." More biting confidence seeped into his voice, "That would explain the unusual engramatic activity I found in her neurological scans."

The Captain blinked up at him, he'd hardly mentioned that irregularity before. "Did you find any other physical evidence of the medical procedures she described?"

"No." The Doctor answered through a locked jaw, "I suspect Mr Kovin used Seven's own nanoprobes to repair any physical damage." His eyes darkened further, "She distinctly remembers Kovin extracting them."

Tuvok, who had remained contemplatively silent during the entire recording as well as the Doctor and Tom's testimonies, now addressed the Doctor questioningly, "You seem to be accepting Seven's recovered memories as fact."

A frown of disquiet marred the Doctor's face, "Are you suggesting otherwise?"

Tuvok regarded him penetratingly, "Historically, recovered memories have proven unreliable."

"Yes, when a traumatic experience has been repressed for years." The Doctor conceded somewhat dismissively, walking around the table to face the Vulcan down, "But we're dealing with a very recent memory that was blocked by artificial means." His focus flicked to the Captain, "When I removed that mechanism Seven remembered everything that had happened."

Chakotay leaned over his end of the table, meeting the Doctor's eyes empathically even as he broke in, "I'm sorry Doctor, but I don't think you can be sure this memory is recent, or that her memory was necessarily artificially blocked."

"I don't know what you're getting at Commander; she recounted the away mission with Mr Paris to Kovin's lab, which only happened yesterday…"

"I'm not saying _parts _of the memory aren't real." Chakotay responded quickly as the Doctor became more frustrated, "But in taking Seven into that technique you wanted to know a reason why she'd hit Kovin, why she was panicking in Sickbay, and she gave you one. Your questions during the regression were leading and her mind may have subconsciously followed you…"

"She needed some _guidance_, nothing more. It's not as if she's had any experience of psychotherapy!" The Doctor exclaimed hotly.

"Wait…" Tom interrupted doubtfully, glancing between Tuvok and Chakotay incredulously, "Are you both saying that Seven could've made all this up?"

"No." Tuvok answered firmly, "But we must remember that she has experienced hallucinatory images before."

"That was in direct response to a signal from the ship from where she was assimilated." The Doctor reminded them tersely, "She's not having hallucinations now, she's remembering what happened to her!"

Chakotay sighed heavily, "I wouldn't say that they're hallucinations, they're definitely memories from somewhere. We have to remember that Seven's mind was brutalised every second she spent with the Collective. We know she's witnessed or participated in the assimilation of countless others, and considering she was probably the first human child the Borg assimilated I'd put an bet on them conducting multiple invasive experiments on her over the years."

The Captain nodded slowly in grim understanding, "Her mind could be piecing together fragmented memories to rationalise how she reacted to Kovin. I honestly think she was disturbed when she couldn't explain the impulse to me…"

"Did what she described to me in the Cargo Bay seem fragmented to you?" The Doctor demanded, starting to pace the room as he saw everyone else in the room flinch, confirming his point. "And rationalising one single action against Kovin doesn't explain why she'd have a panic attack in Sickbay! I've examined and treated her on that biobed too many times to count since she came on board and she's never reacted like that once!"

Chakotay stood up and approached the Doctor, "Reaction to trauma can manifest itself at random and we all have to admit that it could be said that _we _violated her on that biobed when we were extracting those implants against her will…"

"So you're saying she's remembered to be afraid of me after all these months?" The Doctor choked out, "She would've died without those operations, and by your logic she'd be terrified of _you _because you tried to suck her out into space!"

"Doctor…" The Captain intervened hurriedly, gripping his weightless arm to hold him back as he rounded on Chakotay, whose face had stiffened at the pointed reminder of his past actions against Seven. "I think all Chakotay and Tuvok are saying is that Seven's psychological state, and I think you 'll admit her physiological state is also to a certain extent, largely unknown."

Chakotay swallowed hard as he recovered himself, not looking at the Doctor. "From someone who has experienced it, however briefly, being part of a Hive mind flips your self-perspective on its head. I still can't fully distinguish the memories I shared with the members of the Cooperative from my own, for all intents and purposes those memories are mine now too. At that time you could've convinced me I _was _Riley or any of the others. It isn't Seven's fault if she's confused…"

"I think we've all established that Seven is an excellent candidate for post-traumatic stress syndrome whether we're medically trained or not." The Doctor remarked bitterly, "But does that excuse Kovin if he _did _assault her? I've analysed the specific engramatic activity in her hippocampus, we're not talking about conjecture, this is science!"

The Captain raised her hands in a defensive plea for calm, through her face remained pensive. "Let's not get bogged down." She directed as she stood up, "Seven has made serious accusations and I won't dismiss them. If Kovin assaulted her and took a sample of her Borg technology, we can't stand by and do nothing." She scanned their uptight faces and ran a strained hand over her brow, "In the wrong hands a single nanoprobe could lead to disaster."

"I think we can all agree…" Chakotay began resignedly, "…that Kovin did have motive. He's a weapons dealer, and we've seen what weaponised nanoprobes can do." He looked across at the Doctor, "Seven could very well be telling the truth about this, I'd never deny that."

"None of us would doubt now that she believes what she remembers." The Captain agreed sadly, "Either way, the damage to her has been done, but we can't condemn Kovin unjustly." She turned back to the Doctor, the speculative aspect to the conversation was over. "Doctor, I want you to keep searching for any physical evidence to back up Seven's claim. I'll talk to Kovin." A flicker of trepidation flared across her face as she said that, but almost as soon as it made itself known it was hidden away behind a Captain's expected professional demeanour, "Dismissed." She sighed as she heard only three sets of footsteps leaving through the door; she expected, as she looked up, that it would be the Doctor hanging back to argue sympathy for Seven she already felt, or Tuvok to advise her on the importance of objectivity. For once, Chakotay managed to truly surprise her as she met his unreadable dark eyes. "You…made some interesting contributions to the conversation." She commented mutedly.

"I'd be the first to say it was like pouring oil into already murky water." Chakotay responded with a tired shake of his head, "It doesn't help Seven, it doesn't indict or exonerate Kovin…"

Janeway sagged against the table before grasping around for her chair and sinking into it. "We've passed the point of truly being able to do either…" Letting her guard down for a moment, she buried her face in her hands, "It's basically damage control from this point on, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try our utmost…"

"I know." Chakotay assured her, briefly putting a hand on her shoulder before subconsciously taking a step back, "When I asked Seven to work with Kovin down in Engineering, she said that she felt uncomfortable working with him…"

Janeway glanced up at him sharply, "Chakotay, if you're going to start to blame yourself for this…"

"No Kathryn." Chakotay interrupted her again, though guilt did squirm through him at her prompt, irrational though it was. "What I was going to say was that when Seven asked if she had full access to Engineering for the task, and I said yes, she remarked that she her liberty is restricted until you need her…"

Janeway pressed her lips together irritably, "You know that she needs to be restricted in certain ways Chakotay, for her own good."

"I told her that she needed to regain your trust, and she accepted that." Chakotay told her somewhat wryly, "But these events have made me reconsider her liberty. You know that restricted anyone's movements is…unpalatable to me, but in Seven's case she'd be safer if she didn't go on away missions." He caught her enquiring frown and elaborated, "This proves that we've underestimated how vulnerable Seven is outside of this ship. Even if Kovin didn't exploit her, it's sure to occur to some other scumbag to dissect her implants." He tried to ignore both Kathryn's shudder and the twist in his own stomach as he pressed on, "Anyone with a grudge towards the Borg, which is most races in this Quadrant, could take a phaser and shoot her…"

"I get your point." Janeway cut in harshly, "I've never wanted to institutionalise Seven, that will never help her regain her humanity, but these past few days…" She swallowed hard, "I'll consider more precautions, but I don't intend to make any knee-jerk decisions, since, my God, I hope this will prove a one-off."

Chakotay, feeling as drained and exhausted as the Captain looked, decided to submit to her judgement for now. "Understood Captain."

She flashed him a weak smile, "Can you hold the fort on the Bridge for awhile?"

"Consider yourself off-duty." Chakotay replied drily before disappearing out of the door.

**A/n: Please review. I thought this out as a one-shot, but actually re-working this dark episode makes me want to break it into two chapters. I hope it's interesting so far. **


	2. Chapter 2

Exhausted. That was the only word Seven had learned to associate with how she felt right now, as she made her way, with unusual caution, from Sickbay to Cargo Bay 2. Only recently exhaustion had been an alien concept, Borg did not get _tired_, but her time on Voyager had taught her that ex-drones, unfortunately, did. It surely must be ironic, if she understood irony correctly, that she was more tightly bound to her regeneration unit now than she had been through all her existence lived out on Cubes and Spheres dominated by row after row of identical alcoves. Yet it was so, as a fully intact drone she'd been able to function for up to 72 hours without regenerating with no ill effects physically, though her efficiency would've been at the minimal required level. Now however, she was expect to commit at least six hours a day to a full cycle, preferably eight if the Doctor was to be believed.

Her already shaky steps slowed unconsciously to a reluctant shuffle as she faced up to these new and blatant needs of her now fragile body. Regenerating was not optional. She stuttered briefly to a halt as the…nausea churning her stomach intensified, but almost as soon as she'd let the feeling overwhelm her, she violently suppressed it and pushed herself forward again, little realising that rather than controlled and easy, her too-short, rapid strides were choppy and fearful. Since the Doctor had declared her health 'perfect', a statement she'd today found oddly hollow and unsatisfying, she had to put down what she felt to 'remorse'. She hadn't thought that anything could be worse than the primal irrationality of fear, the heat and agitation of anger, or the brooding chill and preoccupation of resentment, but remorse seemed to combine all three. This wasn't just ordinary, human tiredness, she felt _weak _in a way she couldn't define. Her gaze slid unwillingly down to her left arm, checking it for signs of the thoron radiation burn she was now…almost sure it had indeed suffered. The fingers of her right hand brushed the metal tendrils running over the knuckles from where her assimilation tubes would extend, searching to soothe the tenderness which had been proved to be phantom pain, but, catching herself in the act, she quickly withdrew her human hand and pinned it tight to her side. It was her mind which was weak. She'd once told the Captain that deception was unknown to the Borg, impossible, and that had been true, so why, now, was her mind apparently so easily able to deceive itself? Was her one voice, her singular mind, so quiet that without the Collective to give it security and structure her brain was nothing but a damaged, empty husk? Unable to differentiate between a disturbed fantasy and real memory?

Even if that were the case, Seven tried to reason bravely, now that she'd been presented with evidence of the real events, the memory should, logically, stop haunting her, since it had been disproven by more objective judgement than her own. However, she suspected that, once she was trapped in the alcove's oblivion, images of her 'violation', as the Doctor had termed it, would stalk her mercilessly, thus adding another facet to her remorse when she woke. Even if the original 'memory' let her be, she knew that the genuine one of Kovin's ship exploding before her eyes, along with the rush of numbing relief and needles of resentment that had snuck into her heart before remorse had rendered them inert and self-hating, would continue playing out before her mind's eye, whether regenerating or awake. To pretend otherwise was merely another form of self-deception.

* * *

As soon as she finally entered the Cargo Bay, she took such a sharp step back that she narrowly avoided being caught in the doors that had been the process of closing behind her. The unmistakable strong, striking, red-uniform wearing figure of Voyager's First Officer, Commander Chakotay, was bent over a large container of spare parts, a frown just visible on his half hidden face. "Commander?" she forced out warily.

Chakotay jumped at the sound of her voice, unable to stop the grimace that came over his features as he recognised the speaker, but turned his back on her fully to hide the expression. He'd checked the Computer to be sure she wasn't here before he'd ventured down. That of course, wasn't anything he would've done under normal circumstances. He'd never been so petty as to actively avoid her even when he'd been at his most apprehensive about the wisdom of keeping her on board, and he now had enough respect for her that the thought wouldn't have occurred to him on any other day. Today however, was the day he'd dissected Seven's mental and emotional state without her consent and knowledge, the day when her accused abuser had been killed before both of their eyes… "I'm searching for a spare conductor coil…" He explained awkwardly, "The one in my quarters' replicator just blew."

Seven made no immediate reply, he wondered for an instant if she were even still in the room, but then out of the corner of his eye he saw her shapely form move towards another container. "Such components are located here." She advised him stiffly.

Chakotay gave her a small smile as she handed him the exact coil he needed, though his lips soon turned down when, as his eyes fell on her, Seven self-consciously shifted away from the container, she'd been leaning on it, he was sure. It was an odd little thing to not want him to see. "I'll be sure to remember that, for future reference."

"That would be wise." Seven replied, "I will not always be here to direct you."

Chakotay nodded, though as he thought about it, Seven, unless given some duties elsewhere, was always here. Like the spare parts that surrounded her in this cavernous room, she was pushed aside when not needed. The idea disturbed him, though he now remembered that she'd basically told him as much just yesterday. He held up the coil he now had safely in hand, along with a small toolkit, "Now that I've got this, I'd better get on with the repair before I have to resort to Neelix's cooking for dinner. Thanks for the help."

"I…I could be of further assistance Commander." Seven said quickly, "I will repair the replicator for you."

Chakotay turned back to look at her, she sounded almost…eager to do a basic repair that even he, with his limited Engineering nous, could do easily. It shouldn't have interested the woman if he knew her at all. "I'll be fine Seven. I'm sure you'd like me to leave you in peace to regenerate, it's been a long day." He wasn't sure why he'd said the words, other than to prove an unlikely theory forming stubbornly in his brain, but against all odds Seven instantly proved said theory. Her eyes shot to her alcove like a deer catching a glimpse of a wolf, her face pale as she instinctively stumbled back. Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One, was afraid to regenerate.

She caught herself almost immediately however, steadying herself in her new position and straightening to her full height, in her heeled boots she wasn't much shorter than he was, and addressed him in a remarkably controlled tone considering the moment of terror he'd just glimpsed in her. "My need to regenerate is not so pressing that I cannot assist you first Commander."

Chakotay wasn't fooled. He absently put down the coil and toolbox as distant pity became empathy and concern. As much as the idea of this very conversation had confused and repelled him earlier, he was now just as fiercely convinced that he had to have it with her. Taking a deep breath, he regarded her frankly, "How are you feeling Seven?"

Seven blinked hard, caught unawares despite an inkling that the question, or something like it, had been coming. With most other humans, the ones inclined towards engaging in irrelevant conversation with her, which Chakotay was not, the banal and ubiquitous 'fine' might've been enough, but not with Chakotay. It wasn't that he never spoke to her, in fact they'd had conversations which she suspected surprised them both in their depth, but the Commander always had a point when he spoke to her, neither awkwardly filling the silence nor probing her to gauge her conversational skills, she'd always appreciated that in him. If it wasn't about work, or something his insightful eyes had picked up on, they didn't talk. Obviously he'd seen something in her now, and she didn't have it in her in that moment to deny it, a similar conversation with the Doctor had not settled her, but then he was afflicted with remorse also. "The Doctor…has diagnosed me as remorseful, for what happened to Kovin." She murmured, turning her face so that she wasn't compelled to hold his gaze. The Commander remained silent, an uneasy frown on his face. Seven knew the root of it. She'd been questioned by enough crewmembers about whether she felt guilt over the Collective's actions to realise that it probably disturbed him that she was only experiencing remorse now, for one man instead of billions. "The Doctor advised that the feeling would diminish in time…" She trailed off, glancing up at his eyes in hope of seeing confirmation, but she saw nothing but sadness and resignation in the dark orbs. A bubble of frustration swelled up in her then, "If I had not started to indulge in…" Her voice wavered, "…in anger and resentment, which were unsettling enough, this remorse would not affect me so deeply."

Chakotay was confused, "You mean you didn't feel anger and resentment as soon as you remembered what…" He cleared his throat uncomfortably, "…what you thought had happened to you?"

Seven's brow furrowed, her jaw grinding. "If I am analysing my emotions correctly then…no, not at first. I was disturbed, even frightened, but it was over and irrelevant. Then the Doctor explained that what Kovin…" She sighed guiltily, "…what I had remembered as Kovin having done was a violation of my individuality, equal to what the Borg had done, that it was inhuman of me to dismiss it so. Then…then I experienced intense anger and resentment." She gulped hard, desperation edging into her voice, "Now I realise that I was the one who violated Kovin by accusing him. I will not make such a grave error again." She declared hoarsely.

Chakotay stared at her in painful disbelief, the fact that honesty shone from her eyes as much as always somehow made it worse. Yes, anger and resentment were ugly, destructive emotions, he himself knew that far too well, but they were perfectly natural for a woman who'd been convinced she'd been violently assaulted. As far as that he agreed with the Doctor, but he was angrily mystified about why the hologram had apparently been so intent to expose her to such emotion, natural or not, if she was ignorant of it. This situation may have been one of the rare times in her freed life where her detachment would've been a merciful blessing. "Seven, you truly believed you'd been assaulted, you were entitled to feel…"

"No." Seven cut him off with a fierce shake of her head, "I am entitled to nothing, not now." She took another shaky breath as she felt his eyes boring into her. "I've researched situations like this, they occur even in fiction. In one of the morality tales the Doctor gave me my error is clearly reflected…"

Chakotay became dubious even in this serious situation. The surreal image of a preacher Doctor leading little Annika Hansen to Sunday school occurred to him, but he didn't like to think of the little girl he could see as carefree and happy, when her adult incarnation may never be those things. "Morality tales?" he echoed, "He makes you read morality tales?"

"Yes." Seven confirmed dismissively before regaining her train of thought, "In this story a boy reported that there was a wolf killing his sheep when there was none…"

Chakotay felt his stomach plunge, choking on his voice as he struggled to stop his mind from reeling. "Excuse me?" he questioned in horror, "Are you saying you think you're like the boy in 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'?"

Seven shifted uncomfortably for a moment, startled by his inexplicably violent reaction, but soon held her ground. "It was one of the most accurate analogies I could find to explain my remorse."

"Seven…" Chakotay whispered brokenly, his composure beginning to fail him as dread began to drag him down. "Seven, I need you to tell me the truth, if…if a similar incident to what you remembered with Kovin happened tomorrow, or any other day for that matter, would you do anything about it, tell anyone?"

Seven shuddered, "I do not intend to get in that situation Commander, but no, I would not." She answered firmly.

"You can't do that!" Chakotay almost shouted. Suddenly he was beside her, making the few strides in a single bound as he seized her elbow and twisted her around to face him, staring desperately into her eyes. "Seven, if someone assaults you, hurts you in any way, its deadly serious and you have to deal with it, that damned story is irrelevant, do you hear me?" His own breath resounded through his ears as he forced the last strangled words out, the warm air hitting Seven in the face. He suddenly realised that her eyes were huge as she stared at him; her bright blue irises almost totally eclipsed by fear as the last of the colour left her already pale face. Flinching away, as if she thought he would strike her… Seeing that acted like a bucket of ice water drenching him and he dropped her arm at once, a sick lump rising in his throat as he backed off, remorse now enveloping him. "I'm sorry…" He mumbled when he finally forced himself to look at her again; the fear had receded from her as quickly as it had come, but it was now burned in his brain. "To hear you talking like that scared the hell out of me." He admitted, "You're protecting the one who harms you if you remain silent, hurting yourself more, over remorse you shouldn't feel…" He trailed off, "If someone hurts you, it's _their _fault Seven, please tell me you understand that…"

"I…I do." Seven replied, her golden lashes flickering rapidly as she gulped over and over, "But…But what if my memory is false again? My…perception of such things cannot be trusted. If Kovin was innocent, then my mind is defective and deceiving…" Her eyes had completely filmed over, Chakotay doubted she could see him through the tears, but not a single one was shed. He would've preferred it if she did cry, she needed the release even if she didn't know it. If she'd been any other woman, even a stranger, he would've hugged her until she let it out, but as it was he listened and tried to formulate a reply.

"Seven…" Chakotay cautiously approached her again, his voice rich with compassion, "I know the conclusion we came to today was…confusing, for all of us, but I'm sure this was a unique incident. Firstly, the Doctor went about retrieving that memory from you in a wrong and frankly unethical way, secondly, the memory coming out in that form may have been a way for your mind to preserve itself, it's perfectly sane to process memories as horrific as yours were with the Borg in a…compartmentalised way. Thirdly, for all we know that thoron radiation may have had some biochemical effect on you…"

"Stop Commander. I do not require an excuse for my behaviour…" Seven told him pleadingly.

"It's not." Chakotay replied bluntly, "I'm just telling you that if you're assaulted again, there's a big chance its real and I don't want you shoving such an experience under the rug using the small chance that it isn't. " He took her shoulders, much more gently this time, "I need you to promise me right now that if anything that upsets you like that ever happens again you'll tell someone. Me or the Captain or Tuvok, or even Tom and Harry…" He didn't consciously leave the Doctor off the list as he said it, but when he realised he had he couldn't bring himself to mention the hologram in this context.

Seven swallowed again, her golden head bowing as she considered it. "I suppose…if I find myself in a similarly ambiguous situation I could inform Lt Cmdr Tuvok, he has the training to be able to recognise the true nature of it."

Chakotay nodded quickly, not quite able to meet her gaze as he tried to summon up a reply, "Yes, Tuvok would help you." He agreed weakly, vowing at that moment that he'd talk to Tuvok, ask him to soften his stance if she ever did come to him. He had no doubt that Tuvok would be fair to Seven in any case, he always had been, more so than he himself had been, but the ability to present logic and the capacity to comfort didn't always match up. "But remember that you can go to any member of this crew if you're in need."

Seven swallowed, but something in his anxious face made her regain her composure. She was exploiting the Commander' compassion until he suffered emotionally, that wasn't fair. "I know." She assured him gently, a change in tone that made Chakotay regard her with surprise.

She was rewarded with a relieved smile, "Good, that's good." He muttered, nodding repeatedly before his voice strengthened again. "I heard you before, when you said that the Captain restricts your liberty, and I understand that. That's why I'm telling you that today I…advised the Captain that you shouldn't go on away missions. Not as a punishment, but for your own safety…"

Seven nodded solemnly, "You realise now that the hatred many have for the Collective endangers me and this ship." She said it as a statement rather than a question, eyebrow slightly raised, and Chakotay saw that she'd come to that conclusion long ago.

"We're willing and able to protect you on Voyager Seven." He replied firmly, "But we can't predict what you'll face on alien worlds…"

"Can any member of this crew predict what they'll face outside of this vessel?" Seven asked pointedly, sighing as he winced in tacit admission. "I have advised the Captain myself that if Voyager were to cease its deviations from its route to the Alpha Quadrant, it would be more efficient and reduce the risks we face, but the Captain argued the importance of exploration. I know that the vast majority of this crew agree with her." She closed her eyes for an instant, and when she next looked at Chakotay she'd called up all the regal dignity she possessed in spades, "You were considerate and…kind to make the suggestion to her Commander, but I will not be following it. I am a member of this crew now, and as such I intend to serve it in whichever way I can. To restrict me to this vessel would be to restrict my usefulness to you."

Life isn't all about 'usefulness'! The retort burned on the edge of Chakotay's lips, but he found himself biting it back as he marvelled at her. The woman across from him now wasn't the same one who'd been on the verge of tears as she practically admitted to him that she feared she was losing her mind, nor the one who had the reflexes and ingrained fear of a battered woman. What well of strength did she possibly have to draw from? It couldn't all be from the superficial arrogance and superiority complex of the Borg that glazed over self-esteem she'd never had a chance to build up. The little girl he'd seen, the one he _remembered_, must've had a strong character, and he knew the Captain, with her principled independence, was trying to reinforce that, but he hoped someone taught her that it was okay to be dependent too, that accepting comfort wasn't a sign of weakness or a sin. Her life would be productive and honourable, but cold and lonely, if she didn't learn that. Slowly, he reached out and respectfully touched her arm. "I understand." He assured her quietly, his hand moving down to hers and giving it the briefest of squeezes as he met her gaze. "Get some rest."

That soft murmur fractured the façade almost at once, her face becoming stricken, then resigned, as she stared over his shoulder at her alcove. "I…I want to…" She conceded, her voice cracking, "But…But I think the memory is going to remain with me…"

Chakotay was stumped, feeling almost as lost as she appeared, but as his skittish eyes felt on the conductor coil and toolbox, he remembered her original plea. "Actually, I really could use your help on that replicator for a while; B'Elanna will tell you I'm not the best of engineers. After you fix it for me, we'll get something to eat and…and you can take your mind off things for a couple of hours."

Seven remained silent for almost a minute, regarding him intently with those piercing eyes, and then finally gave a faint nod, more of an inclination of her eyes. "Yes. A couple of hours…" She agreed, almost wistfully, before firmly taking the coil and toolbox out of his hands and turning her head towards the door, taking a commanding step forward. She halted just as abruptly as she seemed to have refocused on her task, but didn't turn back to look at him. "Thank you Commander." She breathed, her lean frame giving one last dreadful shudder.

Chakotay put one, guiding hand lightly on the small of her back and felt relief surge through him when he felt her go still. "Anytime." He murmured resolutely.

**A/n: Please review. This was the most difficult story I've had to write for awhile, somehow I hate the canon episode even more now that I've tried to improve its resolution, but I'm glad I made the attempt. I think I'm going to have to write some fluff to get this completely out of my system. **


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